Thursday, April 25, 2013

Yesterday a storm passed through with heavy winds and rain and Living Witness experienced a lot of water coming in the building.  The roof leaks in a lot of places  and water was coming in all over the place.  Buckets were placed all over to help catch as much of the rain water as possible.  Water came down the walls from the second floor to the first.  When the water stopped coming in we began cleaning up.  The following pictures do not do justice to the amount of water and damage that was done.  Please continue to pray for a quick sale of the property.  Living Witness desperately needs to find a new home.

Ceiling sheetrock damage as rain is pouring down

Funneling water that was coming down through the fan/light

The shine on the floor is water not wax

Mathew mopping up the water.  Notice the wet cardboard box

Meal time.  Paul, Bill T., Kris and Bill H.

Cheryl, Leon, Mike (Nehemiah) and Cleo

A well deserved rest for Kris

 

Today is our last day here.  We had lunch at Cafe' Reconcile and then had the pleasure of touring the renovated facility.  It's beautiful.

Kitchen addition

Outside courtyard

 

Decon Bob, Pastor Pierre and 1st Lady Paulette

 

 

Our week has gone by so fast.  We've enjoyed connecting back up with everyone at Living Witness.  We'll be leaving early tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m.  Please pray for a safe trip home.  By the way, we'd appreciate it if all the snow is melted.

God Bless and we'll see you at church on Sunday.

 

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Good Morning.  Yesterday was a very full day for everyone.  We started the day with Bible study with the Nehemiah men and then off to work.  We divided into 3 groups.  Some worked in the men's dorm cleaning and preping the brick wall for the reinforcement wire and mortor and hanging sheetrock on the ceiling.  Another group worked in the sancturary replacing sheetrock and the other group worked on cleaning, organizing the food storage areas and preparing for the evening brat feast.

Wall in men's dorm

 

Men's dorm

 

 

We had a great time sharing our Wisconsin brats and cheese curds with the men and our Living Witness family.  Lot's of great conversations and we even got to meet Elder Stirgis' father.

 

Elder Bryon Stirgis and his father

 

Paul has made a lot of new friends, he's been a big hit with all the kids

 

Leon repairing sheet rock in the sanctuary

 

Cheryl organizing shelves in the food storage area

Enjoying brats, beans, salad, cheese curds, ice cream and all the fixins that go with it.

 

After dinner Pastor Pierre took us to the chuch Living Witness would like to purchase and move their ministry to.  It's a beautiful church with a neighborhood ripe and waiting for their ministry.  It also has empty lots that would be perfect for the Nehemiah ministry giving the opportunity to build a facility.

 



 

 

The church was a United Methodist Church and is in very good condition.  The neighborhood is in need of another church, in fact while we were there a woman out walking asked Bill Hewitt when the church would be opening up.  Please put Living Witness in your prayers for a quick sale on their current facility so they have funds to purchase the new one.

 

Colossians 4:23

Work hard and cheerfully al all you do, just as though you were working for the Lord and not merely for you masters, remembering that it is the Lord Christ who is going to pay you, giving you your full portion of all he owns.  He is the one you are really working for.

 

 

 



 

Monday, April 22, 2013

We arrived safely in New Orleans on Friday  in the early evening and we were warmly greeted by everyone from Living Witness.  Saturday morning we helped serve breakfast to the hungry which is a tradition at Living Witness.  They had the largest group so far this year, around 45 people.
After breakfast some of the team went to the World War II Museum and the rest of us went to visit Elder Bryon Stirgis at his work.  Elder Stirgis is the engineer for the St. Louis Judicial Center.  The Center was built in 1923 and is very beautiful.

 

 

In the afternoon we went on a swamp tour.  The water was 5 - 8 feet higher than usual and cooler for this time of year.  We did get to see a mother alligator with one of her babies on top of her head.



 

 

On Sunday evening we attended the finally of a youth retreat that was held in Hammond.  The speakers were great and the testimonies from the youth on what they had learned was very inspiring.  We were entertained by a couple of Hip Hop artists that really got everyone up on they're feet dancing. 

 

 

Monday started out with a great Bible study and then to work.  We started on cleaning the downstairs and organizing the food storage areas.  Tomorrow we'll continue on this project.  We also did some sheet rock repair in the sanctuary and in the men's dorm.  We'll also be stuccoing the brick wall.

 

God Bless and keep us in your prayers.

 

April 2013 Mission Trip

We're all packed and ready to go.  We'll be leaving tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m. sharp.
Thanks for all your support with the bake sale last Sunday.  Please pray for a safe trip.

Back row:  Bill Hewitt, Bill Tice, Leon Herrick, Lee Hathaway and Jim Welch

Front row: Cleo Herrick, Cheryl Welch, Paul Hathaway, Diane Colson and Kris Tice

Our tour of the Ninth Ward of New Orleans:  

Taken from the lift bridge over the channel that separates the Lower Ninth ward from the upper Ninth Ward.

Brad Pit, the actor, has given money or built many houses in the neighborhoods near the levee breach.

This house still has the markings from Hurricane Katrina. After the waters receded, each house was searched and marked with the date and whether there were people and pets inside or not.

Number of the dead:  at least 1,780 souls.

The memorial marks how fast the water rose every three minutes.

At the highest point, the water rose to 17 feet. This memorial only shows the height of the water once it had settled, so it was actually higher than this monument shows.

Memorial includes parts of a house that was flooded.

New houses or brick houses are all you see now. All the wooden frame houses were destroyed.

These streets used to be lined with houses, close together.

There are a couple of boats that were abandoned after the search.

These streets were never even paved????

All that's left of this duplex/ house is the porch. 

This house was searched twice. Once when the flood receded enough to get in the upper story
and again when the waters were down enough to get into the lower level.

Where the neighborhoods used to be.

The draw bridge over the channel is in the background.
The levee wasn't breached until August 30th; two days following the hurricane.

Cody and Jim standing on the new levee.

This is the levy that was breached after Hurricane Katrina.

These are some of the Brad Pit houses.